eMedia: Explore, Create, Collaborate

I think that it is very convenient to have resources that are shared among Utah educators who are in a similar position as you.  A few years ago, I was teaching U.S. History at a junior high school.  Because of the size of our student population, I was the only U.S. History teacher at my school.  Therefore, I didn’t have anyone to PLC with.  In that situation, having an eMedia group for my content area would be helpful because I could get ideas from other teachers who are teaching my subject. 

EMedia groups can help connect me with anyone from the state.  I can get lesson plan ideas.  I am a fairly new school counselor and I sometimes teach classes in the College and Career Awareness classes.  This is a field that I don’t have as much experience with.  Being able to join a group with teachers who are experts in this field is awesome.  I can look at presentations and resources that other people have created without having to do hours of background research myself. 

There are many benefits of being part of emedia groups.  It makes me think of a variety of facebook groups I am on in specific groups to gain insight, knowledge, support groups. etc.  I really like that there are support groups for the education system.  It is always nice to find new ideas, methods, how to improve your teaching or how to teach to students that are more technology savvy.  Personally, we can always improve and learn new methods to do better with parents, students, and our peers.  I look forward to using these groups more specifically for education purposes.  

The advantage of using eMedia groups is that it helps you easily find free lesson plans, resources, and rubrics that apply to you and your teaching situation. These lessons and resources can easily be adapted, remixed, and expanded upon to help you meet your student's needs. Groups can also help you connect with other teachers around the state to collaborate and share lesson plans and resources that will benefit you and your students. I like the idea of being able to create groups that are specific to your district, school, and the subject or grade that you teach. 

When I started this class, I found that it was hard to find resources specific to kindergarten, there wasn't a group for kindergarten so with this assignment I created one! I am excited to be able to connect and possibly collaborate with other kindergarten teachers around the state and add resources that we can use in our classrooms.  Groups, specifically, the kindergarten group will help me build my professional learning network with other kindergarten teachers and resources that will benefit my students.  The resources will also help me because it creates a go-to place for me to find free resources and lesson plans.

I love that you created a kindergarten group! You might try going into each content area hub and exploring their kindergarten collections. This would be a great way to find the resources to share in your new group. In the Elementary ELA hub, there are a lot of early literacy resources too.

eMedia groups provide numerous benefits for educators, including access to a wide range of resources, professional development opportunities, and peer support. They facilitate the exchange of ideas and strategies tailored to specific educational needs. By participating in these groups, I can connect with other professionals in the college and career awareness field, share insights, and collaborate on projects. This interaction helps build a robust Professional Learning Network (PLN), enabling me to stay updated on trends, enhance my teaching practices, and better support my students’ career readiness. Engaging with eMedia groups fosters continuous growth and a more dynamic educational experience.

One major benefit that really stands out to me with eMedia groups is the collaboration factor. My team and I are always discussing/complaining about how we need a place of organization to put all of our lesson plans, activities, and other materials. We also always state how nice it would be if we had a library of resources. Well, lo and behold, eMedia does that! I cannot wait to meet up with my team and create groups for us, and be able to organize all of our resources. I also plan on joining other groups to help guide my instruction. This is only my 3rd year teaching, so I still need a lot of guidance and resources. 

One big benefit to eMedia groups is the amount of collaboration teachers can add to their teaching. I love my teaching partner, we collaborate so well and are able to do amazing things within our building. I was able to participate in the CS4 grant last year with teachers at my school. The way the grant was set up, my principal had one teacher per grade level go. We learned about coding and were given robots for each grade level. Coming back to my school bringing my new knowledge to my team was great, but now she didn't have the same excitement and knowledge. I became the coding teacher while she did the STEM activity for the week and we traded classes because she wasn't feeling comfortable with the robots. Seeing that CS4 has a group in eMedia immediately got me excited. This will be a great resource and community for me to use when creating lessons and will give me the opportunity to collaborate with others who participated in the CS4 grant. I didn't get anyone's contact information when I was there, and now I will be able to collaborate with those who were there. 

Knowing there are countless resources avaliable through E-Media is one thing that has been a gamechanger towards my teaching and preparation approaches. But now adding groups!? It just all seems too good to be true! But it's not. The benefits of groups allows you to learn with others and from others. It is a great opportunity to share resources with one another and grow as educators. I like how everyone of similar contents and group settings can share their lesson plans and other resources to just be willing to help those around them. It is so helpful to have everything of this sort in one location. The interaction portion with other professionals is a major benefit to grow as educators. 

I like the idea of eMedia groups because having resources created and recommended by other educators because it brings experience and ideas that I might not have considered. It's like having other team members to learn from. I also like having resources aligned to the standards. As a special educator, I'm always looking for resources to modify to meet the needs of my students.

eMedia groups offer collaborative learning, resource sharing, and networking opportunities. They enhance your Professional Learning Network (PLN) by connecting you with experts, providing diverse perspectives, and facilitating continuous professional development through discussions, webinars, and access to up-to-date industry trends and tools

I teach Elementary Keyboarding in 4 schools across my district. I have a very specialized job description and requirements. While my colleagues (there are 8 of us) in the district are wonderful resources for each other, it would be great to know what others in the state are doing and learning as they teach Elementary keyboarding.

Of course, eMedia Groups are only as good as they are being used. I feel like it would be difficut to get what few Elementary keyboarding teachers there are in the state to join the eMedia Group. And if they actually find the group and join, they might not check in with the group very often because we are all so busy just working in the classroom. But it would be nice if it did work.

Agreed, Colleen. It can be a challenge to get good participation if teachers aren't used to going to eMedia for collaboration. I think it does take someone (like you!) or a core group to get things moving. This has happened in the UELMA group. Because Chris Haught posts regularly and tells all the librarians she know about it, the group has become much more active and impactful. And the good news is that group members do get email notices when group members post to disucssions.

eMedia groups offer collaboration with peers state and nationwide, including resource sharing, support and feedback on lesson plans an ideas, professional development, and the ease of access to educational resources and discussions, building a broader network of professionals for best teaching practices.

PLNs offer a variety of benefits, incluidng collaboration and idea sharing, support and encouragement, continuous learning, global connections, access to resources, and professional development. By connecting with other educators globally, teachers can share resources, stay updated on current practices, gain diverse perspectives, and enhance teaching practices for personal and professional growth.

Thanks for your post, Saige. To clarify, eMedia groups are only open to Utah educators; however, nation-wide groups are available in OER Commons. But your points are still valid that it's a great opportunity to reach beyond the wall of your own school.